Football: Brian Cabral's future with CU Buffs unknown

Veteran coach could hear Thursday if he is part on new staff

Bill McCartney, Rick Neuheisel, Gary Barnett, Dan Hawkins and Jon Embree all have one thing in common other than having held the job of head football coach at Colorado.

They all had linebackers coach Brian Cabral as part of their coaching staffs.

Will new CU coach Mike MacIntyre become the sixth head coach to either hire or retain Cabral? Buffs fans could know the answer to that question as soon as Thursday.

MacIntyre is scheduled to return to Boulder on Thursday morning. He has decided not to coach San Jose State in the Military Bowl on Dec. 27 against Bowling Green. He will likely know at that time which members of his coaching staff at San Jose State will be joining him in Boulder.

San Jose State athletic director Gene Blaeymaier announced Tuesday that veteran defensive coordinator Kent Baer has been named interim head coach for the Spartans bowl game. That does not rule out the possibility of Baer joining MacIntyre in Boulder, but it also means Baer is likely to be considered as MacIntyre's replacement with the Spartans.

MacIntyre will meet with each of Jon Embree's assistant coaches to consider them for positions on his staff and will also likely interview a handful of outside candidates.

Cabral coached his 23rd consecutive season at CU this fall and has been involved in 345 games as a coach or CU player. He played in 46 games as an inside linebacker in the mid-1970s and left the school as its all-time leading tackler at the time. He also played nine seasons in the NFL.

As the 2012 season came to a close, there was speculation that Cabral might be ready to retire, but in an interview before the Buffs' season-ending loss to Utah, Cabral said he still had a passion for working with young men and being on the sidelines on Saturday afternoons.

"No question," Cabral said about his desire to coach. "You look at something like this and you're obviously paying a price. It's awful. It's ugly. It doesn't feel good, but you know the reward is on the back end. You look at how much better you're going to be next year and how much better you will be the following year."

Cabral also has served two stints as interim head coach in Boulder. He filled that role first in the spring of 2004 when Barnett was suspended and again in the final three games of the 2010 season after Hawkins had been fired.

"Just when you think you've seen it all, you see more," Cabral said of the Buffs' 2012 season. "That's what I've come to learn is the more you're around, the more you see."

Big loss

Kisima Jagne, a member of the 2012 Colorado recruiting class who grayshirted because he was not initially academically eligible in the summer, has decided to attend Arizona State, Rivals.com reported.

Embree said multiple times last spring and summer Jagne was the player he was most excited to get on the field because he believed he could make an immediate impact.

"Kisima might have the upside of all of these defensive linemen," Embree said on national signing day in February. "He has unbelievable length. He's all of six-foot-five and probably has the wingspan of a seven-footer. He does a good job at getting on the edge. He has great speed closing in on the quarterback."

Small world

If San Jose State offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Brian Lindgren ends up at CU, there will be at least one familiar face in the Dal Ward Center other than MacIntyre and any other San Jose State assistants who come along.

Lindgren was the starting quarterback at Idaho during the final portion of CU athletic director Mike Bohn's tenure at the school as athletic director. Lindgren coached six seasons at Northern Arizona before joining MacIntyre's staff this season.

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